Neuroplasticity & Cerebrum

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the principles of neuroplasticity, Brodmann cytoarchitectural mapping, functional cortical lobes, language areas, and related neurologic disorders.

Use It or Lose It

The neuroplasticity principle stating that failure to drive certain brain functions can lead to their loss and the weakening of unengaged neural circuits.

Use It and Improve It

The neuroplasticity principle stating that training and repeated practice of specific brain functions can strengthen supporting neural systems and lead to functional improvement.

Specificity

The neuroplasticity principle stating that the nature of the training experience dictates the nature of plasticity, with neural change being greatest in the circuits directly engaged by the practiced task.

Repetition Matters

The neuroplasticity principle stating that the induction of lasting neural reorganization requires sufficient repetition and numerous successful activations to stabilize learning.

Intensity Matters

The neuroplasticity principle stating that driving meaningful neural reorganization requires a sufficient amount and frequency of training intensity.

Time Matters

The neuroplasticity principle stating that different forms of plasticity occur at different times of training relative to injury onset and prior learning.

Salience Matters

The neuroplasticity principle stating that the training experience must be important, meaningful, and personally relevant to the individual to induce plasticity.

Age Matters

The neuroplasticity principle stating that training-induced plasticity occurs across the lifespan but develops more readily in younger individuals.

Transference

The neuroplasticity principle stating that plasticity induced by one training experience can enhance the acquisition of similar behaviors and carry over to untrained tasks.

Interference

The neuroplasticity principle stating that plasticity in response to one experience or incorrect practice can disrupt or interfere with the acquisition of other behaviors.

Brodmann Map

A brain mapping system developed by Korbinian Brodmann (1868–1918) that divides the cerebral cortex into 52 distinct areas based on gross anatomy and cellular architecture.

Prefrontal Cortex (PFC)

The anterior frontal lobe region occupying Brodmann areas 9, 10, 11, 12, 45, 46, and 47 that regulates cognition, executive control, personality, decision making, and social behavior.

Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC)

A functional subdivision of the prefrontal cortex located within Brodmann areas 9, 10, and 46.

Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex (VLPFC)

A functional subdivision of the prefrontal cortex located within Brodmann areas 45 and 47.

Orbitofrontal Prefrontal Cortex (OFC)

A functional subdivision of the prefrontal cortex located within Brodmann areas 11 and 12.

Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC)

A functional subdivision of the prefrontal cortex located within Brodmann areas 24, 25, and 32.

Depressive Profile (PFC Damage)

A behavioral outcome of prefrontal cortex damage characterized by apathy, indifference, abulia, akinesia, perseveration, mutism, depression, and hyposexuality.

Manic Profile (PFC Damage)

A behavioral outcome of prefrontal cortex damage characterized by explosive emotional lability, environmental dependency, distractibility, impersistence, confabulation, mania, and hypersexuality.

Abulia

A symptom associated with the depressive profile of prefrontal cortex damage characterized by an inability to act or make decisions due to severe lack of willpower.

Frontal Eye Fields

A frontal cortical area located in Brodmann area 8 that controls directional eye movements and is involved in uncertainty and hope; damage causes the eyes to deviate toward the lesion.

Broca's Area

A specialized motor speech region situated on the inferior frontal gyrus (third frontal convolution) comprising Brodmann areas 44 and 45.

Pars Triangularis

The anterior portion of Broca's area located in Brodmann area 45 that is involved in interpreting language syntax and planning/programming verbal responses.

Pars Opercularis

The posterior portion of Broca's area located in Brodmann area 44 that is involved in coordinating the speech organs for language production.

Broca's Aphasia

A nonfluent language impairment caused by damage to Brodmann areas 44 and 45, originally identified through Paul Broca's postmortem analysis of his patient Tan.

Premotor Cortex

A cortical region occupying Brodmann area 6 that closely works with Brodmann area 44 to select and plan motor movements.

Supplementary Motor Area (SMA)

A functional area located at the superior aspect of Brodmann area 6 that is responsible for sequencing and initiating motor plans.

Primary Motor Cortex

A motor strip situated in Brodmann area 4 that sends executable motor plans received from Brodmann area 6 directly to the muscles and is arranged somatotopically as a motor homunculus.

Ideational Apraxia

A motor planning deficit where a patient loses the concept or purpose of an object, leading to an inability to sequence multistep object interactions.

Ideomotor Apraxia

A disorder characterized by the loss of the ability to carry out a voluntary motor action despite retaining the knowledge and understanding of the object's purpose.

Limb-Kinetic Apraxia

A motor disorder defined by the loss of the ability to voluntarily move the limbs, such as being unable to wave goodbye.

Constructional Apraxia

The loss of the ability to voluntarily use the dominant hand to draw or reproduce figures, such as drawing a square.

Gait Apraxia

A motor disorder characterized by the inability to voluntarily coordinate and move the lower limbs in a normal walking pattern.

Dressing Apraxia

The inability to voluntarily coordinate body and limb movements required to dress oneself, such as buttoning a shirt.

Oculomotor Apraxia

A condition characterized by the loss of voluntary control over eye movements.

Oral (Buccofacial) Apraxia

The loss of the ability to voluntarily coordinate oral structures to perform non-speech movements, such as sticking out the tongue.

Apraxia of Speech

A motor speech disorder resulting in the loss of the ability to plan and voluntarily execute the precise motor movements required for speech.

Primary Sensory Cortex

The postcentral parietal strip situated in Brodmann areas 1, 2, and 3 that receives and processes somatosensory modalities including touch, vibration, proprioception, and stereognosis.

Somatosensory Association Cortex

A parietal cortical area located in Brodmann areas 5 and 7 that interprets incoming sensory feedback during movements to refine motor output, fine speech movements, and writing.

Angular Gyrus

A parietal region located in Brodmann area 39 involved in reading, mathematics, metaphor comprehension, and embodiment; damage causes alexia, acalculia, out-of-body experiences, or Gerstmann syndrome.

Supramarginal Gyrus

A parietal region occupying Brodmann area 40 that stores auditory representations of phonemes to aid word sounding; damage produces phonological dyslexia.

Visual Cortex

The occipital lobe structure occupying Brodmann areas 17, 18, and 19 responsible for receiving and processing visual sensory input from the eyes.

Dorsal Stream

The "where" visual pathway traversing Brodmann areas 18, 19, 7, and 39 that processes motion perception and spatial relationships.

Ventral Stream

The "what" visual pathway traveling through Brodmann areas 18, 19, and 37 that analyzes visual form, color, and face identification.

Inferior Temporal Area

A cortical area located in Brodmann areas 20 and 21 that processes auditory and language information, reads facial emotions, and is implicated in hallucinations.

Parahippocampal Gyrus

A medial temporal lobe region occupying Brodmann areas 27, 28, 34, 35, and 36 that encompasses the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex.

Entorhinal Cortex

A structure located in Brodmann areas 28 and 34 that functions as the primary bidirectional relay hub between the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus.

Fusiform Gyrus

Also called the occipitotemporal gyrus; a region in Brodmann area 37 acting as a visual lexicon for naming and recognizing seen items; lesions cause anomia and lexical agraphia.

Prosopagnosia

A visual agnosia characterized by the inability to recognize previously familiar faces.

Simultanagnosia

A form of visual agnosia defined as the inability to perceive and integrate multiple elements of a visual scene simultaneously.

Pure Word Deafness

An auditory agnosia characterized specifically by the inability to recognize or comprehend spoken speech despite normal hearing acuity.

Auditory Sound Agnosia

An auditory agnosia characterized by the inability to identify familiar environmental non-speech sounds.

Phonagnosia

A selective auditory agnosia characterized by the inability to recognize familiar human voices.

Astereognosis

A tactile agnosia defined as the inability to identify an object purely through manual exploration and touch.

Temporal Pole

A region in Brodmann area 38 supporting semantic and narrative comprehension on the left, emotional integration on the right, and empathy and theory of mind bilaterally.

Primary Auditory Cortex

Also known as Heschl's gyrus; a tonotopically mapped region in Brodmann areas 41 and 42 that receives initial sound input from the cochlea via cranial nerve VIII.

Wernicke's Area

A specialized posterior temporal language region situated in Brodmann area 22 that decodes auditory speech; damage results in fluent aphasia with poor comprehension and jargon speech.

Cingulate Cortex

A limbic belt encircling the corpus callosum spanning Brodmann areas 23–26 and 30–33 that mediates attention, error detection, memory, and emotional behavior.

Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC)

The anterior segment of the cingulate cortex that manages cognitive control, error detection, conflict monitoring, problem solving, and filtering out irrelevant information.

Posterior Cingulate Cortex (PCC)

The posterior segment of the cingulate cortex involved in retrieving autobiographical memory, managing risk assessment, emotional processing, and detecting salient stimuli.

Insular Cortex

A cortical structure buried within the lateral sulcus that regulates orofacial motor routines, visceral reactions such as disgust, sensorimotor integration, and aspects of language.